A new wave of empirical and data-driven studies on the history of social mobility in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period has been emerging in recent years. This trend bears some resemblance to the wave of historical inequality studies that successfully changed the consensus of long-run trends in inequality in the past decade. In this short reflection, I argue that there are important obstacles to overcome before a similar consensus in the field of historical mobility studies can be reached. Pre-modern historians should be careful to distinguish between different types of mobility, should take contemporary perceptions of social ambition or fear into account, and should Always specify which social groups their results apply to.
VUB, Free University of Brussels, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0003-0269-4950
Chapter Title
Towards a new history of old mobility: obstacles and prospects
Authors
Wouter Ryckbosch
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0667-9.31
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
La mobilità sociale nelle società preindustriali: tendenze, cause ed effetti (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Social mobility in pre-industrial societies: tendencies, causes and effects (13th-18th centuries)
Editors
Angela Orlandi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
612
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0667-9
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0666-2
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0667-9
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0668-6
Series Title
Datini Studies in Economic History
Series ISSN
2975-1241
Series E-ISSN
2975-1195